Viva Canada !

DELI MAN'S JUICED
TO LEAVE TOWN
By JOHN DOYLE
July 22, 2006 -- A Queens businessman is so fed up with the power outage he's pulling up stakes and moving to Canada, where life runs more smoothly, he told The Post.

Jimmy Istavrof, 57, a Turkish immigrant and owner of J&C Greek Italian Deli, in Astoria, said he lost $15,000 in food and business due to the blackout, not to mention the financial devastation he suffered just two summers ago, when the last major outage hit the city.

"The system stinks in this country," he raged. "I decided I don't have trust in this country any more. How can I trust [when] five days I don't have electricity?"

Con Ed should give businesses access to backup generators in case of emergency, he insisted.

Istavrof already owns a home in Montreal, where his cousin runs a wine and cheese shop. He'd been considering the move for the past few months, but the blackout hastened his decision.

Adding to his anguish, yesterday his mother, Kalyopi, 84, died in the hospital after an infection from a broken hip.

"I can't take it," he said. "The little bit of life I have left I want to live in a country that's secure."

In Canada, "they have a system. You can't compare their system there with the broken system here," he fumed. "Capitalism is only for the rich."
His wife, Liliana, 56, agreed, adding that the death of Istavrof's mother means they no longer have family in New York City.

"Nobody knows what tomorrow brings," she said. "We're ready to retire anyway. But of course, this is a big reason. It's not going to get better - this is going to get worse."

As someone who recently drove across the border, I did have this observation... When I got to Canada, the customs guy was all smiles. Looked like a surfer dude in a Mounty uniform. Two questions, never even asked for ID. They were all but waving people through with their eyes closed. The more the merrier, I guess.

When I drove back down to the U.S., Cadet Tackleberry met me at the border. This guy was all business. No smile. Not even a "welcome home." I felt like I had to really choose my words carefully, or else I was going to end up on the side of the road watching the car get taken apart.